Last week, Wade and I were lucky enough to be in Columbia, SC, for the eclipse ...

It really was an extraordinary experience ... I can easily imagine how people not prepped for the event by modern science and media would think the world was coming to an end. For me, the most interesting part was that, with only a tiny sliver of sun not occluded by the moon, there was still plenty of ambient light. The most stunning part was that when only a tiny sliver of the sun emerged from the other side, it was an explosion of light--spectacular! Time to start planning for 2024. : )

(All this celestial excitement must have permeated my subconscious, because in the weeks leading up to the eclipse, the two books on my nightstand were THE STARS ARE FIRE by the wonderful Anita Shreve, and Kent Lester's debut novel, THE SEVENTH SUN.)

Wade and I just got back from another relaxing and productive week in Maine. It started out the opposite of relaxing, because we arrived at what we thought was our rental in Bass Harbor only to learn that, due to an administrative mix-up, it wasn’t our rental after all! After a suspenseful couple of hours, during which we drowned our sorrows in Bar Harbor Real Ale at Thurston’s Lobster Pound, the rental company lined us up with a beautiful old farm on eight acres in Lamoine, on the mainland. It turned out to be a silver lining of the best sort; we had always avoided the mainland because of the horror stories we heard about the difficulty of getting on and off Mount Desert Island, but we were able to plan our travels to miss the traffic jams, and as a result got to enjoy the quieter atmosphere (and lower prices) of the mainland.

My two signing events went well—I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Bar Harbor Cellars, and a busy afternoon at Sherman’s Books, where manager Deb Taylor graciously rearranged the featured books shelf so I could take a photos of THE SENSE OF RECKONING next to Anita Shreve’s latest novel, THE STARS ARE FIRE, which also features the Fire of 1947. (Plus Deb marked my book as a Staff Pick!)

At both the signings, I had my first experience in Maine of having someone come to an event specifically to see me, so it’s exciting to see that word of my books is spreading!Interesting insider tip for the Friends of Ann Kinnear: The Somesville house on which Garrick Masser’s is modeled is for sale. Based on the photos on Zillow, it’s a lot more cheery than Garrick’s home, but the front hall is very much as I described it in RECKONING.

The best news of all: My draft of SNAKES AND LADDERS, the sequel to ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, is now up to 40,000 words (final manuscript will be 80-90K) thanks to the inspiring (and dog-distraction-free) atmosphere of the Lamoine farm! I’m feeling confident that I will be able to have a draft ready for my editor by mid-December. ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, which is my third book, launched on 3/3—might Book 4 be ready on 4/4? I’ll keep you apprised of progress!